Lesson Title: Communication: the Power to Free --Songs

 

By: Angela Choberka and Dee Anne Squire, Teacher Consultants, Wasatch Range Writers Project

 

Burning Question: Through reading and discussing a picture book in a group can students determine what forms of communication we use to share our ideas, how we choose which forms to use, and how communication can help us navigate situations?

 

Objectives:

·         Students will explore various methods of communication used by slaves to gain freedom.

·         Students will relate prior knowledge to make connections to text (e.g., text to text, text to self, text to world).

·         Students will identify and evaluate forms of communication and how they are used in particular situations.

 

Context: Introductory Lesson K-6 (extensions may apply across grade levels)

 

Materials:

·         Winter, Jeanette. Follow the Drinking Gourd. New York: Dragonfly Books, 1988

·         White board/markers to facilitate discussion for older students

 

Time Span:  30 - 45 minutes

 

Procedures:

  1. Ask students to draw/imagine:

    •  Pretend you have hidden a treasure on the playground and it is for your friend. You need to tell him/her where it is without telling anyone else. How will you tell your friend where it is? Remember, I am watching, too. Open for discussion of student ideas and lead them to determine the variety of forms of communication they already understand.

  2. Begin a student led discussion overviewing issues such as escape, running away, slavery, the Underground Railroad by asking what students already know about the topics. Fill in the gaps appropriately based on the age of students, their prior experiences, and how deeply you plan to cover the topic in this lesson. (Use “Note about the Story” in Follow the Drinking Gourd or other sources provided in this lesson.)

  3. Share Follow the Drinking Gourd with the students appropriately based on their age and ability. For example, your intent with younger students may be to provide an exposure to the spiritual rather than delving deeply into issues with slavery, but with an older group there may be questions raised regarding the topic that need to be addressed.

  4. Follow the reading with questions relating to prior discussion:

·         Are any of the students’ ideas regarding methods of communication reflected in the story?

·         What are some ways the people communicate throughout the story? (singing, following the stars, symbols like the foot and the peg, seasons, hoot, drawing of map, lamp being lit)

·         Why did they choose those particular forms? Why didn’t they write a note or draw a map to carry? Why did they sing a song?

·         Older students could be prompted to reflect on any of these ideas and write in a journal or writing notebook for a period of time to complete this lesson.

 

Adaptations/Extensions:

Rationale: We feel that it is important to discuss how the slaves needed to find alternate ways of communicating in order to escape from their situation. The picture book retelling the story surrounding the folk tale/song explicitly shows some ways this journey was undertaken. They learned a song that told of an escape route but had to “read” the signs such as facial expressions, stars, seasons, rivers in order to be successful at their pursuit. This lesson was designed as an introductory lesson for any age/ability level. Students at all ages love to be read to from a picture book, so even 6th graders would find this lesson interesting and fun. We wanted to create a flexible guideline in order to help guide the lesson, but to leave most of the decisions up to the teacher within their own classroom with their particular students. 

 

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